Malaysia in 2020: Developed or Bankrupt?

Back in 1991, the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir mooted his Vision 2020 for Malaysia to transform to become a Developed Nation by 2020.


Fast forward today, we are left with less than ten years to chart the nation's development and claim our rights to be alongside countries like Japan, Germany, USA and the United Kingdom. However, even Mahathir himself is skeptic with the progress of Malaysia in achieving the 2020 goals. Read Here: STAR NEWS 


At the extreme, the Minister incharge of the Government Transformation Programme, Senator Idris Jala even suggested the possibility that Malaysia will go bankrupt by 2019. Read Here: Idris Jala: M’sia must cut subsidies, debt by 2019 or risk bankruptcy. , This outcome is definitely the antithesis of sustainability. If this happens, our society will reach a point of collapse, as brilliantly analysed by Jared Diamond in his book: Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. 

Did Idris Jala attempt to tell this doom and gloom picture to the general Malaysians with the intent that we start doing things differently? I can't think of any other reasons that made him arrive to that bold statement.The sad truth is, I am as pessimistic as Tun Mahathir on the current state of the country. While we have been presented to us in numerous occasions with well crafted plans and strategies to formulate Malaysia's escape from the middle income trap status, we all know too well that MALAYSIA is still POOR at DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE EXECUTION. 


So where do go on from here? I can only offer 2 simple but effective solutions: 


First, we can stop blaming others when we fail to achieve our goals. This negative habit is very prevalent in our mindset today. Just take the most recent example of the excuses given by our National badminton players when they performed poorly at the last Thomas Cup: Read here . Take responsibility when you know that you have failed to deliver your task. Four Japanese Prime Ministers resigned in the last four years because they have chosen the path of honour and not to shame their country.  There was a sincere reason why Tun Mahathir had the Look East Policy way back in the 80s. 


Secondly, we especially leaders in our community really need to walk the talk and lead by example. When we encourage people to take the public transport, ask ourselves when is the last time we took a bus from our home to the work place. When we fight the cause to improve our education policy, do we send our kids to Sekolah Kebangsaan or the Private / International School? When we cry for our talents abroad to come back and serve the nation, how much do we pay foreign companies to do things our locals can do at fraction of the cost?


In the name of ensuring SD for Malaysia, it is not too late to change our behavior. For a start, why not apply the two solutions that I have proposed above?